Staten Island Will Be the Business and Shopping District and Tourist Center

The city of New York in cooperation with local activists plan to transform the suburbs of Staten Island in the commercial and business district.

In the plans one of the most important steps will be the revitalization of areas that are adjacent to the pier. In order to make the commercial part of the city livelier, the authorities will give grants to artists and artisans studios for housing rental. The authorities also plan to help traders and trading networks that will want to open their branches on Staten Island.

It should be said that the city government has already started negotiations with developers and designers to build the world's largest observation wheel, which will be also returned to Staten Island. According to the authors of the project BFC Partners new amusement park and the new shopping center will attract every year up to 4 million visitors. Also in the plans of developers to rebuild the naval base Homeport, it is planned to organize 900 residential units and retail outlets, which will be located in an area of 30,000 square feet.

General Fund of 425,000 dollars is planned for traders who want to rent retail space not less than 3 years. As for the embankment it is planned to rent out rooms for small coffee shops, souvenir shops and other stores. It is said that the city authorities are ready to compensate rental expenses for dealers if they venture to open stores in the area.

It should be noted that this area is still considered to be out of town, despite the fact that the number of suburban-type homes has declined significantly in the area. Staten Island Mall is one of the new retail spaces in the area. This mall attracts more and more visitors, but, nevertheless, more than 100 000 sq. feet of retail space is still waiting for their owners.

Note that not all residents of Staten Island are enthusiastic about the new plans for the city administration. Most of the borough is the sleeping areas, where there are no good transport connections.

But the administration says that the serious steps that already have been taken in order to turn the area into a shopping center.

According to retailers, who ventured to open a business here, this area has a good chance to really become a trading center.